{"id":94472,"date":"2022-09-04T03:19:53","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T07:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/german-present-tense\/"},"modified":"2024-08-23T08:05:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T12:05:57","slug":"german-present-tense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/german\/german-present-tense\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Conjugate German Verbs in the Present Tense"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re ready to start speaking in full German sentences<\/a>, then there’s no time like the present<\/em> for some German present tense<\/strong> lessons.<\/p>\n

The present tense is, thankfully, a pretty easy topic in German. In fact, when I first learned it, I was relieved at how relatively simple it was compared to English present tense.<\/p>\n

In this guide, I’ll be showing you how to transform German verbs<\/a> into their right grammatical forms to talk about anything being done right now.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

What Is the Present Tense?<\/h2>\n

In grammar, you use present tense when you’re talking about something you’re doing at the moment <\/strong>or something that happens often<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Verb conjugation<\/a> for the present tense depends on the verb itself. There are different types of verbs and each verb type follows different conjugation rules.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rules primarily involve modifying the verbs’ stems and endings. The stem is the “front half” of a verb, and the ending is the remaining half. It’s easy to tell which is which, since the ending for infinitive forms of verbs<\/a> is always -en<\/em> or -n<\/em>. (eg;\u00a0gehen<\/strong>, lachen<\/strong>, vermitteln<\/strong><\/em>)<\/p>\n

I’ll go over the major different German verb categories and how present tense works for each.<\/p>\n

How to Conjugate Regular German Verbs<\/h2>\n

Regular verbs in German are called as such because their conjugations follow relatively consistent rules.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most German verbs are regular. You’ll find them a lot easier to learn than other verb types, which have more finicky conjugations.<\/p>\n

The basic conjugation rule is to remove the –en<\/em> or -n<\/em> ending from the infinitive form of the verb, and replace it with the ending that corresponds with the pronoun.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For regular verbs, you only need to memorize these six endings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Pronoun<\/b><\/th>Verb Ending<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich<\/i> (I)<\/td>-e<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du<\/i> (you, informal) \u00a0<\/td>-st <\/i>or -est<\/i> (if verb stem ends in -d<\/i> or -t<\/i>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
er\/sie\/es<\/i> (he\/she\/it) \u00a0\u00a0<\/td>-t <\/em>or -et <\/em>(if verb stem ends in -d<\/em> or -t<\/em>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir<\/i> (we)<\/td>-en<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr <\/i>(you, plural informal)<\/td>-t<\/i> or -et<\/i> (if verb stem ends in -d<\/i> or -t<\/i>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sie<\/i> (you, formal)<\/td>-en<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sie<\/i> (they)\u00a0\u00a0<\/td>-en<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

As noted, an extra “e” is added to the verb conjugations for du<\/em>, ihr<\/em>, Sie<\/em> and sie<\/em> if the verb stem ends in either -d<\/em> or -t<\/em>. This makes the resulting verb form easier to pronounce.<\/p>\n

Want proof? Let’s take the verb arbeiten<\/em> (to work). Try to say Du arbeitst<\/em>\u2014it doesn’t work very well, right? Du arbeitest<\/em> rolls off the tongue much more easily and won’t make you have to clench your teeth to say it.<\/p>\n

Also note that verbs whose stems end in the “hissing” consonants (s, \u00df\/ss, z <\/em>or x<\/em>) will not get the typical –st<\/em> ending in their du<\/em> pronoun conjugation. Those consonants replace the “s<\/em>” of the –st<\/em> ending they would have gotten. So, when taking the verb tanzen<\/em> (to dance) as an example, the correct conjugation is du tanzt<\/em>, not du tanzst<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now here are a few examples of regular verbs conjugated to present tense:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
<\/td>arbeiten <\/i> (to work)<\/th>lernen<\/i> (to learn)\u00a0<\/th>spielen<\/i> (to play)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich<\/i><\/td>arbeite<\/i> (I work)<\/td>lerne<\/i> (I learn)<\/td>spiele<\/i> (I play)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du<\/i><\/td>arbeitest<\/i> (you work)<\/td>lernst <\/i>(you learn)<\/td>spielst<\/i> (you play)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
er\/sie\/es <\/i><\/td>arbeitet<\/i> (he\/she\/it works)<\/td>lernt<\/i> (he\/she\/it learns)<\/td>spielt<\/i> (he\/she\/it plays)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir <\/i><\/td>arbeiten <\/i>(we work)<\/td>lernen <\/i>(we learn)<\/td>spielen<\/i> (we play)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr<\/i><\/td>arbeitet<\/i> (you work)<\/td>lernt<\/i> (you learn)<\/td>spielt<\/i> (you play)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sie<\/i><\/td>arbeiten<\/i> (you work)<\/td>lernen<\/i> (you learn)<\/td>spielen<\/i> (you play)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sie<\/i><\/td>arbeiten<\/i> (they work)<\/td>lernen<\/i> (they learn)<\/td>spielen<\/i> (they play)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

How to Conjugate Irregular German Verbs<\/h2>\n

German irregular verbs<\/a>, unlike regular verbs, don’t have one consistent conjugation pattern. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there’s no real trick to differentiating between irregular verbs and regular verbs just by glancing at their infinitive forms. In my German lessons, I was simply given a list of irregular verbs to memorize.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But no need to despair, because when it comes to the present tense, there’s fortunately a typical overarching pattern you can work with.<\/p>\n

Many irregular German verbs<\/strong> require a change in the verb’s stem.<\/strong> This effect mainly applies to the verb conjugations for the pronouns du<\/em> and er\/sie\/es<\/em>. <\/strong>The plural pronouns receive regular conjugations.<\/p>\n

The typical stem vowel changes are: e<\/em> to ie<\/em>, e<\/em> to i<\/em>, or a<\/em> to \u00e4. <\/em>Only one vowel is changed, <\/strong>and you’ll likely be able to figure out which one at first glance. Here’s a helpful resource<\/a> that categorizes the irregular verbs by their stem-changing vowels.<\/p>\n

But besides the stem-change, you utilize the same endings that replace the infinitive -en<\/em> or -n<\/em> of regular verbs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Pronoun<\/b><\/th>Verb Ending<\/b><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich<\/i> (I)<\/td>-e<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du<\/i> (you, informal) \u00a0<\/td>-st <\/i>or -est<\/i> (if verb stem ends in -d<\/i> or -t<\/i>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
er\/sie\/es<\/i> (he\/she\/it) \u00a0\u00a0<\/td>-t <\/em>or -et <\/em>(if verb stem ends in -d<\/em> or -t<\/em>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir<\/i> (we)<\/td>-en<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr <\/i>(you, plural informal)<\/td>-t<\/i> or -et<\/i> (if verb stem ends in -d<\/i> or -t<\/i>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sie<\/i> (you, formal)<\/td>-en<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sie<\/i> (they)\u00a0\u00a0<\/td>-en<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Note that, unlike for regular verbs, irregular verbs who experience a stem-vowel change, and whose stems end in –d<\/em> or –t,<\/em> don’t get a preceding “e<\/em>” in their du<\/em> and er\/sie\/es<\/em> verb conjugations.<\/strong> For example, for the verb raten<\/em> (to guess), you would say du r\u00e4tst<\/em> and er\/sie\/es<\/em> r\u00e4t<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Similar to regular verbs, irregular verbs whose stems end in s, \u00df\/ss, z <\/em>or x<\/em> will just receive a –t<\/em> ending in their du<\/em> pronoun conjugation.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of conjugated irregular verbs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
<\/td>sprechen<\/i> (to speak, e to i)<\/th>lesen<\/i> (to read, e to ie)<\/th>laufen<\/i> (to walk \/ run, a to \u00e4)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich<\/i><\/td>spreche <\/i> (I speak)<\/td>lese <\/i>(I read)<\/td>laufe<\/i> (I walk\/run)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du<\/i><\/td>sprichst<\/i> (you speak)<\/td>liest<\/i> (you read)<\/td>l\u00e4ufst<\/i> (you walk\/run)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
er\/sie\/es <\/i><\/td>spricht <\/i>(he\/she\/it speaks)<\/td>liest<\/i> (he\/she\/it reads)<\/td>l\u00e4uft<\/i> (he\/she\/it walks\/runs)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir <\/i><\/td>sprechen<\/i> (we speak)<\/td>lesen<\/i> (we read)<\/td>laufen<\/i> (we walk\/run)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr<\/i><\/td>sprecht<\/i> (you speak)<\/td>lest<\/i> (you read)<\/td>lauft<\/i> (you walk\/run)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sie<\/i><\/td>sprechen<\/i> (you speak)<\/td>lesen<\/i> (you read)<\/td>laufen<\/i> (you walk\/run)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sie<\/i><\/td>sprechen<\/i> (they speak)\u00a0<\/td>lesen<\/i> (they read)\u00a0<\/td>laufen<\/i> (they walk\/run)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

You can see how different German verbs are conjugated in context\u00a0with FluentU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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